UBS sells Montebello shopping center for $84M

The CEO of a California streetwear retailer, known for selling expensive Nikes, has bought a shopping center in Montebello.

George Mersho bought the roughly 735,000-square-foot Shops at Montebello retail center for $84 million, or $114 per square foot, according to public property records filed with L.A. County. Mersho could not be reached for comment. Mersho runs Shoe Palace, which was bought by British retailer JD Sports for $325 million in 2020, according to news reports at the time.

UBS Realty Investors sold the shopping center after holding it for 10 years. The Swiss investment bank had bought the property from Macerich and Macy’s for an undisclosed sum in 2012, records show.

Mersho owns a few smaller commercial properties in L.A., including a retail property at 5365 Long Beach Boulevard leased to Shoe Palace that Mersho bought for $1.4 million in 2018, records show. That 6,300-square-foot building was put up for sale last month for $4 million, according to a listing on LoopNet.

The Shops at Montebello, located at 2000 Montebello Town Center, is currently leased to a number of fashion brands, including Forever 21, Macy’s, e-commerce retailer Fashion Nova, Foot Locker and Hot Topic.

At the start of the pandemic, UBS had issues with some tenants not paying rent. The firm sued Walt Disney Company last year over a shuttered store at the mall, claiming Disney owed almost $275,000 in back rent. The case was settled for an undisclosed sum a few months later.

UBS has also filed lawsuits against Fashion Nova, Shiekh Shoes, L&M Footwear, The Children’s Place, among other tenants, for breaching their leases over the last year. Each suit claimed more than $100,000 in unpaid rent, according to L.A. Superior Court records.